In this week’s (September 1) New Yorker, artist Kehinde Wiley comments that Ice-T was the most difficult subject he ever had sit for him. “He had the most shocking level of ego and excess. It was me inviting these celebrities to be who they wanted to be, and he goes straight for a portrait of Napoleon. He was, like, ‘If anyone deserves to be Napoleon, it’s me. I’m the father of gangster rap.’ So he crowned himself.”

Also, here is a slide show of Mr. Wiley’s work, though it does not include his painting of Ice-T.

*Juxtaposition: The New York Timesreflects on the occasion of Trent Reznor playing at the Izod Center. Guys: Everyone is getting old.

*Crowdsourcing: Bandstocks allows fans to invest in bands, funding production of their music. One of a host of services aimed at crowdsourcing all aspects of the music biz, from A&R to distribution. [chasing lions]

Execrable local newspaper the Star Tribunehighlights some live music that’ll be playing in and around the Twin Cities during the Republican National Convention. See especially the Take Back Labor Day concert at Harriet Island, which features populism-pimping acts such as Steve Earle, Atmosphere, and The Pharcyde.

Furthermore: Said paper does a Q&A with Spearhead’s Michael Franti, who says, “I want to share my music with Republicans, Democrats, black, white, anyone who wants to hear what I have to say.”

1) Did the Strib really need to cut this interview into multiple pages? They didn’t. And it was a bad decision to do so.

2) I once did security at a Spearhead concert. I was positioned directly in front of the stage, and before the concert started, some sage old stagehand gave me this piece of advice: “If the crowd surges, go over the stage or go under the stage. Don’t try to hold them back.” And that advice is as relevant now, to the Star Tribune, as it was back in the day, to me.

Additionally (and as mentioned previously), on September 2 at the Fitzgerald Theater, the ProVention Concert will feature a lot of local and quasi-local musicians singing for Peace, the Planet and some other “P” I can’t remember. Acts include The Honeydogs, Haley Bonar, and Dan Wilson.

I have written (briefly) about the didgeridoo massages (including BRAIN massages) offered at Minneapolis’ Mill City Farmer’s Market previously. Now, this wonderful blog post, which tells the tale of how one man created a didgeridoo out of ice in the Antarctic, comes to my attention.

*Webcasting: Radiohead will be webcasting a show live from Santa Monica tonight, at 8:30 Central time. They are competing with Barack, people. How are we supposed to find resolution here? [pop candy]

*Videogames: JamLegend takes the Guitar Hero phenomenon online. (Their site was offline when I tried to visit. Funny. I guess.) [techcrunch]

*The Brett Favre of Musicians: Entertainment Weeklyinterviews M.I.A.: “I was quite happy to just leave it all behind. I was happy with what I had achieved. Now, with the success of ‘Paper Planes,’ there’s pull for me to make another record.” [music slut]

*Obit: It seems like every day this summer you see a new music-related obit. This time it’s for a guy who isn’t even dead. Bloomberg accidentally runs Steve Jobs’ obituary.

*Marketing services: Cherp is a marketing services agency that helps corporations optimize their presence on Twitter. Here’s what you need to know: Be a living, breathing human person with faults, aspirations and ideas. Use twitter. Don’t be a prick. Goodbye. [mashable]

*P2P: The legit wing of the LimeWire store is expanding; they’ve added The Orchard’s music catalog. [hypebot]

*Smoking: I don’t know why you would want to have a pack of cigarettes stuck to the side of your head, but if you would, you can buy a telephone headset that looks like an open pack of heaters. And then you can wear it. [shinyshiny]